Bharti Airtel shares end lower on 22% decline in Q3 net profit

Bharti Airtel's shares on Friday ended 0.5% lower after the company reported an over 22% fall in net profit for the December quarter. 

The stock settled 0.55% lower at Rs 289.70 on BSE. During the day, it dipped by 3% to Rs 282.30 -- its 52-week low. At NSE, shares of the company went down by 0.51% to end at Rs 289.90.

Bharti Airtel had yesterday posted an 22% fall in net profit at Rs 1,117 crore for the third quarter, dragged down by higher finance costs and charges for network upgradation as also the restructuring activities in some countries.

The company had registered a net profit of Rs 1,436 crore for the corresponding quarter previous fiscal, Airtel had said in a statement. The country's largest telecom player said bottomline was hit by exceptional items that include a charge of Rs 115.2 crore towards operating costs on network refarming and upgradation programme, Rs 231.3 crore on restructuring activities in some countries and interest costs, among others.

The total revenue, however, rose 3.7% to Rs 24,066 crore for the quarter under review as compared with Rs 23,217 crore in the year-ago period.